New turn in Toyota investigation as US turns to Nasa

Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent

Wednesday March 31 2010, 1.00am, The Times

Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent

Wednesday March 31 2010, 1.00am, The Times

The financial future of the world’s biggest automaker may be thrust into the hands of the men and women who put a man on the Moon as the United States Government turns to Nasa to establish why Toyota cars may have sped out of control.

The people behind America’s space programme will be joined by the National Research Council in the $3 million inquiry into whether the current diagnosis of the “sticky accelerator” problems is correct.

The US Government’s decision to turn to Nasa came as Toyota held the first post-crisis meeting of its new quality control committee in Japan. Convened amid claims that the company had begun “radically reshaping operations”, the establishment of the committee was one of the promises made by the company’s